--- title: Most Americans, Including Smokers, Want Low-Nicotine Cigarettes description: CDC data show that 80% of American adults, including current smokers, support the development of less-addictive, lower-nicotine cigarettes. canonical: https://time.com/5624399/lower-nicotine-cigarettes/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-11T15:43:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:57:42.827Z article:section: Health og:title: The Majority of Americans, Including Smokers, Like the Idea of Less Addictive Cigarettes og:description: That contain less nicotine og:url: https://time.com/5624399/lower-nicotine-cigarettes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29eb1d4fc6e4091b/6989ffda7cdbac9be1d60fa1/cigarette-smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cropped hand holding cigarette og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Majority of Americans, Including Smokers, Like the Idea of Less Addictive Cigarettes twitter:description: That contain less nicotine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29eb1d4fc6e4091b/6989ffda7cdbac9be1d60fa1/cigarette-smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Americans, Including Smokers, Like the Idea of Less-Addictive Cigarettes  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 11, 2019 3:43 PM UTC  Photo Taken In Germany, Leipzig Photo Taken In Germany, LeipzigGetty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 11, 2019 3:43 PM UTC The majority of American adults, including current smokers, would support cigarette manufacturers making their products less addictive, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC’s data, which [were published](https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797%2819%2930210-7/fulltext) in the _American Journal of Preventive Medicine_, came from a 2018 survey of more than 4,000 U.S. adults. About 81% of these respondents said they would support cigarette manufacturers making cigarettes that contain lower levels of addictive nicotine, according to the data. Eighty-four percent of former smokers held that position, compared to about 81% of both never and current smokers. That’s a huge jump since 2010, when just 50% of respondents favored the proposal, the authors write. Support was much lower, however, among those using tobacco products other than cigarettes, including cigars, e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Non-cigarette users “might have less favorable attitudes because of concerns that such a standard could eventually lead to restrictions on the availability and characteristics of other tobacco products,” the authors write. The study did not specify which products these individuals were using, but the [number of Americans using e-cigarettes](https://time.com/5381078/american-e-cigarette-vape/) for nicotine delivery [has skyrocketed](https://time.com/5478946/teen-vaping-drinking-rates/) in recent years. The idea of a lower-nicotine cigarette isn’t purely hypothetical. In March 2018, as part of a comprehensive plan to reduce the public health burden of tobacco use, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [announced](https://time.com/5201311/fda-lower-nicotine-cigarettes/) an advanced notice of proposed rule-making that, if enacted, would “lower nicotine in cigarettes to minimally or non-addictive levels.” A concurrently published _New England Journal of Medicine_ [report](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1714617) estimated that the policy could help 5 million smokers quit within a year, and over time prevent millions of premature deaths from smoking-associated conditions such as cancer and heart disease. When or if the FDA’s proposed rule could take effect remains to be seen, but the authors of the new study say their data could speed the process along, since “population-level attitudes can guide implementation and sustainment of tobacco control interventions.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5624399/lower-nicotine-cigarettes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5624399/lower-nicotine-cigarettes/"},"headline":"Most Americans, Including Smokers, Like the Idea of Less-Addictive Cigarettes","datePublished":"2019-07-11T15:43:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:57:42.827Z","description":"That contain less nicotine","url":"https://time.com/5624399/lower-nicotine-cigarettes/","keywords":["Public Health","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29eb1d4fc6e4091b/6989ffda7cdbac9be1d60fa1/cigarette-smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29eb1d4fc6e4091b/6989ffda7cdbac9be1d60fa1/cigarette-smoking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cropped hand holding cigarette","caption":"Cropped hand holding cigarette","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5624399/lower-nicotine-cigarettes/","name":"Most Americans, Including Smokers, Like the Idea of Less-Addictive Cigarettes"}}]}] ```